Final edition of TAPS yearbook on sale, move to quarterly magazine outlined

CLEMSON — TAPS, Clemson University’s yearbook since 1908, will print its final edition at the end of the 2017–18 academic year. Following a steady decline in yearbook sales, the student media group decided to move to a quarterly interest magazine beginning in the fall of 2018.

“As a senior staff, we settled on this decision due to the undeniable decline in sales,” said Anna Rice, editor-in-chief. “Each year since I came to Clemson in 2014, we have seen sales drop by 200 books per year. The only way we thought to keep TAPS from going bankrupt was not only to end the physical book, but also create something different that would prove more cost-effective and potentially more interesting for students.”

The final TAPS yearbook will be printed at the end of the 2017-18 school year.Image Credit: TAPS

Final editions of TAPS are on sale now for $85 and can be purchased through Jostens.com using the yearbook search term “Clemson University.” It also may be added to a student’s spring tuition bill. Student portraits will be included in the final edition, and dates for the sessions will be announced by TAPS on Instagram and Facebook.

The quarterly interest magazine, while still in the planning stages, will be free to students and supported through advertising, donations and activity fees. Assistant Director of Student Media Jackie Alexander said the magazine will give the staff more creative freedom.

“The staff felt after an extensive two-year decision-making process that a magazine was a better plan for the future with our fiscal resources,” Alexander said. “We will present a prototype to Student Government when it comes time for the budgeting process and then hope to launch the first official issue next fall.”

Alexander said while the production of the final TAPS is bittersweet, the staff is excited about its potential.

“It’s going to be a time capsule of Clemson throughout its history, as we look into the future,” she said. “That type of approach is befitting our theme, which is ‘Legacy.’”